Untitled

80
EAST ASIA.
hospitable and friendly to strangers, the latter drives them from his tent, or makes
them pay dearly for their entertainment, For the Tangut is greedy and specula-
tive, fond of pillage and plunder, but at the same time religious, never forgetting
to obtain absolution for the deeds of violence and bloodshed committed in his
marauding expeditions against the caravans and Mongol encampments. On the
sacred shores of the Blue Lake they purchase or seize the captured fish and restore
it to its native element, their good actions thus soon outnumbering their misdeeds.
The Tangutans are not polyandrous like the Southern Tibetans, but polygamy
is permitted, and the wealthy proprietors readily exchange their yaks and sheep
for new wives. The women, however, are not treated as slaves, moving about
freely and spending much of their time at the toilet. The tents are usually made
of black yak hair, with an opening at the top for the smoke to escape. The family
sleeps in a circle round the hearth on heaps of grass and branches, or even on the
bare ground, amid the kitchen dirt and refuse.
In the Kuku-nor country there is a living incarnation of Buddha, although his
glory is much obscured by that of his Tibetan rival. Here a great many lamas
live under the tent, while those residing in community often wander about from
tribe to tribe. At their death they receive funeral honours, whereas the simple
faithful are thrown to the beasts and birds of prey. The only occupation of the
natives is stock-breeding, and some rich proprietors possess hundreds of yaks and
thousands of sheep. Everything is paid for by so many head of cattle, and thanks
to the trade thus carried on in flour, tobacco, woven goods, tea, and rhubarb, the
Chinese Government has gradually succeeded in re-establishing its supremacy over
the natives. By means of this local traffic, and the caravans constantly passing
through their country between China, Mongolia, and Lassa, the Tanguts are able to
maintain frequent relations beth with the Dalai-lama and the Emperor of China,
their spiritual and temporal sovereigns. The monastery of Cheibsen, about 45
miles north of Sining-fu, on an affluent of the Yellow Eiver, may be regarded as
the capital of the country. According to Prjevalsky the province is divided into
twenty-nine khoshun, or " banners," five in Chaidam, nineteen in the Kuku-nor
district and its northern valleys, five south of the Hoang-ho. Sining is the
residence of the Chinese officials, through whom the Tangutans
the Imperial Government.
II. MONGOLIAN KANSU.
communicate with
THK desert zone stretching from the Takla-makan sands north-eastwards to the
elevated plateaux bounded by the Great Ivhingan range, although often represented
us a region of great uniformity, is really characterized by considerable diversity in
its relief, soil, and climate. Thus the tract, some 300 miles broad, lying between Hami
and the Nan-shim Mountains, is not, strictly speaking, a desert at all. It merges
no doubt in one direction with the wastes of the Lower Tarim, in another with the
dreaded plateaux of the Eastern Gobi, while some of its plains form smaller inter-